Godmode: The Dead Game Odyssey

Chapter 15: "Wax Figures and Whiskey: Liam's Wild Gambit"

"Holy crap!" Shawn blurted out, unable to hold back a curse. "I haven't even dug up any info on those god-tier NPCs yet, and you're already trying to get yourself killed!"

"Touching those wax figures will get you corrupted. Once you're corrupted, your sanity meter drops—and when that happens, it's a fast track to losing your mind! You won't be able to tell what's real or fake anymore, and you're toast!"

Shawn's frantic outburst drew a small crowd of player-spectators over to their corner.

In the "Death Comedy" section of the game's live-streaming hub, the players on these mini-screens were either adrenaline junkies who thrived on reckless stunts to grab attention or total newbies who didn't mean to play so badly but ended up fumbling their way into chaos anyway.

The audience loitering around this zone loved watching these players crash and burn spectacularly. But when a few of them caught sight of Liam Watson on Shawn's screen—reaching out to touch a mermaid wax figure—they released a collective "Whoa!" in stunned unison.

One spectator, eyes wide with awe, said, "Talk about an education! I've never seen someone pull a death wish like this—actively groping a monster. What's this guy even trying to do?"

Shawn spun around, exasperated, jabbing a finger at Liam's figure on the screen. "I've been tracking him since the main hub screen. This guy racks up points like it's nothing—hit a hundred in no time. And guess what he spent it on?"

"A hundred points?" The spectator blinked, glancing at the timestamp on the mini-screen. "It's only Day 2 in-game, and he's already at a hundred? That's pro-level stuff. How'd he end up in Death Comedy with a score like that?"

Before he could finish, Liam on-screen leaned in close, practically pressing his face against the mermaid wax figure, tracing its patterns with his fingertips. The spectator's jaw dropped, his expression cracking into disbelief and amusement.

"Okay, never mind," the guy chuckled. "With moves like that, I get why he's here. So, what'd he buy? A hundred points in Eclipse Harbor can snag some solid gear. The Flame Torch and Water Bubble combo's about that price—best clears in the game."

"Nope, not even close," Shawn said with a dark, resigned tone. "He bought nine barrels of high-proof alcohol."

"No way!" The spectator gaped at the screen, floored. "Nine barrels of booze? Who even buys that? Nobody does!"

Shawn nodded grimly. "By any normal logic, alcohol flames are too weak—low heat, low light. Useless against mermaid wax figures or the sailors.…"

But then he trailed off, squinting at the screen, puzzled. "Hold up. He's been messing with those things forever now—how's he not corrupted yet?"

The other spectators frowned, leaning in closer. "It's been five minutes. He should be fully corrupted by now—sanity at zero…"

Liam, unfazed, ran his fingers along the neck of a mermaid wax figure tilted up at him. He looked calm, almost playful—like an artist toying with a sculpture, not a player flirting with disaster.

There wasn't a flicker of fear on his face. He even muttered to himself, as if chatting with the wax figure: "Just as I thought—your face isn't morphing into mine. When those other wax figures tried to latch onto me, their faces mimicked me. Yours? Nothing. Still locked in that cocoon shape. You can't corrupt me through touch because you've already—"

Liam's lips curled into a faint smile. "—taken someone else's face. You're the sailors' talismans. Their cocoons. You can't hatch me, too."

The wax figure under his hand bore the exact face of a sailor he'd spotted on deck earlier.

Up close, Liam noticed the wax was flaking, its surface brittle and thin—nothing like the sturdier figures he'd seen elsewhere. Shining his flashlight on it, the shell looked so fragile it might shatter with a poke, letting light bleed through—like a butterfly's discarded cocoon.

These warehouse wax figures matched the one at the hotel desk—the "talisman" type, labeled in the monster book as "cocoon form."

If Liam's hunch was right, every wax figure in this hold was a sailor's talisman—their "cocoon." And cocoons don't attack. When a mermaid wax figure shifts from "pupa" to "cocoon," the monster inside has already emerged, leaving an empty husk behind.

The real monsters were the sailors roaming the ship.

["Eclipse Harbor Monster Book" Updated — Mermaid Sailor (3/4)]

[Monster Name: Mermaid Sailor (Butterfly State)]

[Weakness: ??? (To Be Discovered)]

[Attack Method: ??? (To Be Discovered)]

Shawn and the spectator stared, dumbfounded, at the mini-screen.

Shawn pressed his face closer, gaping at the refreshed monster book entry. "I've watched Eclipse Harbor clear a million times—nobody's ever figured out you don't need to dodge these things down here! Not even Mason Shepherd, the single-run high-score champ, caught that these are cocoons, not pupae!"

"Normally, you'd get chased upstairs by these talismans, triggering the mermaid sailor chase scene. That's how you unlock this page—by running into the sailors. How does Liam know the wax figures down here are harmless? And he's already nabbed the third page this early?"

The spectator's jaw hit the floor. "Holy—! Is he about to collect the whole Eclipse Harbor monster book for a full clear? That's insane! The last person to pull that off was Mason, right?"

"No chance," Shawn snapped back, shaking his head as he adjusted his glasses. His gaze on Liam softened with a mix of admiration and pity. "He's got rotten luck. The second page he unlocked is the roaming NPC."

"The Siren King has no weakness. To fill out that page, you've got to figure out its attack pattern—waking it up and letting it come after you. But when that bug-level NPC swings, it's game over. Instant death."

"Wait, he triggered a roaming NPC, too?!" The spectator's voice shot up, his eyes gleaming with reverence as he stared at Liam's screen. "First time I've seen someone spawn a roamer and not bail! Usually, players are scrambling to quit. This guy's just… vibing. Isn't he freaking out?"

"Ignorance is bliss, I guess," Shawn said with a wry grin. "He's a newbie."

Their loud, hyped-up chatter pulled more onlookers over.

Word spread fast: Liam had a god-tier roaming NPC on his tail and three monster book pages unlocked by Day 1. The Death Comedy crowd was eating it up—they lived for players like Liam, who danced on the edge and somehow didn't fall.

"This guy's got game!"

"Love it! Total chaos, but he's still kicking. My kinda player."

"No fear, just charge! Go, uh… Liam what's-his-name? Let me check…"

[205 new likes on Liam Watson's mini-screen, 200 new favorites, 35 viewers tipped power-ups—Player Liam Watson earns 35 points.]

[297 people now watching Player Liam Watson's mini-screen.]

[Congrats, Player Liam Watson, on blowing up in the Death Comedy zone! You've earned the "Death Jester" title~ Keep the laughs coming with your wild antics for all the players watching you flirt with doom~]

Once Liam pieced together that the sailors were the real monsters, he stopped climbing back up. If he was right, the sailor who'd lured him down here was waiting at the warehouse door. The second he stepped out, it'd spot him snooping and kick off a heart-pounding deck chase.

And if a player didn't know these wax figures were harmless, they'd probably panic, bolt upstairs, and get ambushed from both ends—a near-certain death trap.

What a lazy game design, Liam thought, bored. The chase solution was obvious: jump into the sea.

But he wasn't a fan of getting wet.